The Primal Hunter

Now, honestly, Jake felt really put on the spot. He had just dealt with the damn Bloodline debacle at the Order and had believed this entire World Congress would be a relaxing time where he could chill with friends and do some voting and stuff. You know, he just wanted to enjoy it a little.

But no, the King had to show up and make everything incredibly complicated, so instead of getting a nice and relaxing break, Jake went straight from the frying pan and into the fire.

Everyone looked back and forth between the King and Jake. Perhaps some had not noticed it to begin with, but the two masks did look exactly the same. Which made sense because the mask Jake wore on his face was kind of a clone of the King as far as Jake knew. In fact, it was the ”real” body Jake always had on his face, while the King before him was… well, also the real body.

Yeah, Jake still wasn’t sure exactly how it worked.

However, before the King answered the crowd, Jake asked the question that had been burning in his mind. Not openly, but directed only at the King. He reached out mentally, and the King responded as he made a telepathic bridge.

”I thought you said you couldn’t surpass me in level?” Jake asked first thing.

”So did I, but it appears I miscalculated, even if I just learned now you are, in fact, below me in level. You see, I assumed my Soulspace would surpass yours in power if my level did, and the two would have to be roughly equal, but it was clear my assumptions were wrong somewhere. Parts of me wondered what would happen if I surpassed your level, but my Soulspace never surpassed yours. I primarily assumed I would hit a wall, so I kept slaughtering and claiming my land as I waited for that to happen. It never did. Ah, but I am certain that advancing in grade will be impossible before you, so do not dally,” the King answered.

The exchange between the King and Jake was nearly instantaneous due to its telepathic nature, so in the view of everyone else present, the King and Jake had just stared at each other for a moment before the Unique Lifeform answered Jacob’s question.

”He is why I am fallen,” the King simply answered.

Jacob, who seemed to have managed to collect himself a bit, continued down this line of questioning.

”I may be incorrect, but you were formerly known as the King of the Forest, the final opponent of the Tutorial that Lord Thayne and I were in?

”Correct,” the King answered.

”In which case, how are you alive? To my knowledge, he gained the title of Progenitor through slaying you,” Jacob asked.

Jake once more had attention gathered on him as he seriously considered if he should talk about now? Well, the King was handling it so far, so maybe he should just let him do the talking, eh, telepathy.

“We Unique Lifeforms have our own ways of survival. And can I not ask you the same? To my knowledge, you were slain too during the tutorial but had methods to stay alive. The same is true for the Risen and that other mage. There are endless methods to survive, so do you truly find it that surprising?” the King said, doing some good old whataboutism.

some looking at Jacob at the revelation he had died. Surviving death was an odd concept to most, and Jake actually had a feeling it made Jacob appear better. However, it also sought to derail the conversation,

why you are standing where you are today or the nature of your relationship with Lord Thayne,”

the hunter is my bane. If you wish for a balancing scale on this planet, he can fulfill that role, as even now, I hold no

of happy he had shut up as the King was seriously spinning the truth. Jake understood why too… there were plenty of skills to discern truths, and even if they didn’t work fully, they at least had to have partial effects. Downright lying would probably trigger them, at least. Of course, it was also possible the King was partly truthful for some other

also be truthful. “I have killed the King once, and I can do

It was Jake being one hundred

mean picking you effectively puts Jake in charge?” Carmen suddenly raised her hand

him in charge would be inaccurate as the hunter cares not for leadership of any kind. Merely look at who truly leads his city currently. His position would be comparable to that, except I would not seek to make decisions

everything you said. Let us assume you do have the wellbeing of this planet in mind. Choosing to elect you World Leader within an hour of meeting you..

term,” the King answered, getting a varied response. Some looked offended, others looked like everything suddenly made sense, and people like

without my presence here. No, I come today to open up a line of communication and a chance to prove my competency. Let me also make it clear, no King rules alone. Even if I do ultimately get elected, none will lose their positions unless deemed incompetent, as I see no purpose in ruining what already works, and I am also acutely aware that hostile takeovers would mean war with many factions,” the King

for the most part. There also didn’t seem

a time to prove oneself is necessary. We are not opposed as we believe inclusivity is key to a

my eyes, and I shall confess, I do not even possess the usual sensory organs of you humans or Risen. To me, you all look alike aside from

a varied response. Some humans seemed to frown, especially many of those associated with the Holy Church and independent factions. Jake did notice Arthur didn’t seem to hold any strong opinion on the Risen, which at least was a good sign. Jacob’s

on this, Lord Thayne?” Arthur

he answered. “Who leads Earth or not really isn’t that big of a concern to me. In my eyes, the multiverse is far larger than this planet, and even if Earth will forever be my home, I only consider Haven truly mine. So as long as whatever

of the Order

an ass, but the Viper has made it pretty clear he cares little for a small planet such as Earth. He cares about individuals and not dead rock if it comes down to things. Ultimately the Order is the kind of organization that doesn’t recruit by taking over territory but by people coming to join it. If the Order does take over a territory, it wouldn’t be through me trying to weasel my way into becoming World Leader, but by overwhelming force,”

decided to also finally join the conversation as she added

still only in possession of a single Pylon and thus far have made no efforts to expand except the natural growth of said Pylon. Haven is still open to members of any faction to visit, and besides some basic rules, we welcome everyone. The only religious institution we have is a temple where anyone is allowed to place a statue as long as it passes some basic evaluations. All of this is

new, and Jake knew she had emphasized this repeatedly when talking to other factions. But hey, reemphasizing was always

play. “As of now, we are only a single planet, and while this vote may only appear to pertain to Earth, we must acknowledge that is only for now. In the context of the old

he understood the implications. Caleb continued

faction is elected World Leader and agrees to leave every other faction alone to act independently while not allowing them to continue to expand. What happens in a few hundred years? What happens when the entire solar system is conquered? When in times to come, potentially entire parts of the galaxy are conquered? Even if a small piece of land such as Haven remains, it will be cut off. Defensive formations covering the entire country will isolate them, and I see no scenario where a true multiversal kingdom will allow so many factions to have teleportation arrays placed in its heart.

a scenario so far off I

off?” Caleb answered back. “No, this is all within our near futures. The timescale of the multiverse moves differently from what we are used to. Every single person in this room will live hundreds of years more unless killed. Within that time, this entire planet will surely be conquered, and whatever factions accomplish this will

you arguing then?” Arthur asked. “That we all just fully submit to one